JOIN USWhen protests galore tested commuters' patience
Vehicular movement came to a standstill for several hours in the City on Monday as political parties and organisations held rallies and staged demonstrations.
Road users had a tough time near Anand Rao Circle, Freedom Park, K R Circle, Race Course Road, Shivananda Circle, Sheshadri Road, Trilite Junction, Kumara Krupa Road and Platform Road.
“The series of protests did not throw traffic out of gear, but vehicular movement was slow,” DCP (Traffic-West) S Girish told Deccan Herald. The police had to deploy additional forces at strategic locations to guide commuters and about 120 traffic policemen were put on duty, he said. Banners and posters also helped caution road users, as did the alerts that were flashed. As some areas were blocked temporarily and traffic diverted, the protests did not cause much inconvenience, he said.
At some places, commuters had a tough time as the protesters squatted on the roads and refused to allow any vehicles to pass.
At around 12.30 pm, there was heavy traffic jam and the situation returned to normalcy by 2.30 pm.
Protesters were stopped at Freedom Park as the police had imposed prohibitory orders in and around the Vidhana Soudha in view of the session.
To protest against the train fare hike, Socialist Unity Centre of India took out a rally from City railway station, while the CPM had organised a rally that started from Khodays Circle, off Sheshadripuram. Members of the Dalit Panthers of India marched from Town Hall to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s home office ‘Krishna’. The Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and Hasiru Sene staged protests near the City railway station.
Sangha president Kodihalli Chandrashekhar came down heavily on the State government for its anti-farmer policies and condemned the police action of preventing the protesters from taking out rallies.
The protesters demanded that the government direct the sugar factory owners to pay the arrears of Rs 3,500 crore to sugar cane growers.